Michael 84

Men's Lifestyle

A guide for the modern gent who likes good living. You'll find tech, travel, cars, TV, music and everything else all us guys are interested in. Whether it's watches, the best TV and films or tech, if it's to do with life and it's popular, it's here.

Rekorderlig Premium Winter Cider – Hot Or Cold?

Wednesday, 4th November, 2015

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The winter is upon us which means one good thing if you’re a Rekorderlig fan…The Premium Winter Cider is back! I had my first one last year, and loved it, and as you can see, it won’t be my last.

As with all Rekorderlig flavours this one is really nice. It’s so crisp, and even though the ingredients sound like something I wouldn’t usually go for, they work in a drink and Rekorderlig get the combinations just right for a really refreshing taste. The apple cider is infused with vanilla and cinnamon which is perfect for the winter season.

Something else which is unique is that this drink can be served hot or cold. Warm up the winter, or chill out with the refreshing drink, it’s up to you. Personally I prefer an ice cold drink, so that’s what I will always go for 🙂

Are you hot or cold?


Newcastle Saturday Night – Ouseburn, Quayside, Town

Monday, 26th October, 2015

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Bad hair day! 😛 | Red !Solid Jeans, Black DNKY Shirt, Grey Alfred Brown/M&S Jacket

Hey guys!

I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was good and bad, Saturday night was good, but the derby…Newcastle lost 3-0, largely due to a penalty and a player getting wrongly sent off! Anyway, I would have wrote this yesterday but I was so tired! I guess that’s the sign of a good night out.

I technically got back in after 3AM, and since the clocks went back at 2 it was really 4AM, and went out earlier than I usually do, so I guess I must of drank a fair bit, although I didn’t really feel any drunker than usual. We started off at the Ouseburn for a change and went to a few places around there like The Tyne Bar, The Cluny and Nancy’s Bordello, then a couple of places on the Quayside like The Akenside, Popolo, The Redhouse, Eye of The Tyne and Tiger Hornsby, then finished the night in Perdu.

I wore my red !Solid jeans with a black shirt and grey jacket; I wanted to add some colour to my outfit and think that this works well for Autumn. I love the red bottoms with the grey jacket, I think the two colours work well together, the grey calms down the red which could have otherwise looked really loud. As for shirts I could of gone for a white shirt or striped top which would of worked well, but I wanted to try a black shirt with this.

Here are a couple of pics from the night, mainly of the Quayside…I love my city! :mrgreen: (They were taken with my phone)

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Rugby World Cup In Newcastle

Thursday, 8th October, 2015

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I love my city! 😛

I’m sure if you live in the UK or rugby crazy parts of the world, then it’s hard to miss that the rugby World Cup is on at the moment. England have just been knocked out, and they’re the first host nation to get knocked out the group stage. I am not a rugby fan, but it’s really cool that Newcastle was chosen as a host city, and has 3 games at St. James’ Park. One has just taken place last weekend, and we have two more to go.

Not only is there people in the stadium, we have a fan park which was full, and apparently has been the busiest fan park in the entire country! I was out on Saturday night and they had the England game on the big screen at the Monument too…The fan park was full!

I was out and about a few days ago so I took a few photos of the city, including the fan park which has a big wheel and a real carnival kind of atmosphere 🙂

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All Black And White Men’s Styling With Nudie Jeans, Prada & Air Max

Wednesday, 7th October, 2015

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I have been writing this blog for years now, and I rarely shoot photos on locations, which I should really start doing a lot more. I live in Newcastle, it’s an amazing city, it has so many great buildings and cityscapes, there’s plenty of cool backdrops for creating some amazing images, not to mention it’s close by to a couple of beaches too!

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Michael 84 Featured In Men’s Fitness Magazine

Tuesday, 6th October, 2015

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Hey guys!

I hope you’ve all had an amazing weekend. If you follow me on Twitter and Instagram you’ll already know this, but I have been so busy with features on the blog I forgot to post this…

I was featured in Men’s Fitness Magazine in their October issue to give some advice on my men’s grooming tips. I recommended Dover MEN+Care post shave balm, something I really like and have featured on the blog before, such as in my men’s grooming day post as well as the Dove MEN+Care review.

If you are looking for a Sunday read then you can get the magazine, if you don’t like paper you can get it on the app I believe 😉


Out In Newcastle At The Weekend – 3rd October

Monday, 5th October, 2015

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We went out in Newcastle on Saturday night, and it was good. The rugby World Cup is on, and even though I don’t like rugby there’s a good atmosphere in Newcastle when there’s a game on. Newcastle is hosting a few games in the rugby World Cup, the first was on Saturday afternoon with South Africa and Scotland, not only that, England were playing in the evening too. So I decided to pick a bar to meet which I knew didn’t have a TV, so we went to Browns. Then discovered that they do have a TV, but the place was not too busy :mrgreen: It was a good atmosphere in the town, with plenty of South African fans, probably more than Scottish actually, but there were a few in kilts.

We have a fan park near St. James’ Park, but I noticed signs up that said ‘at capacity’ so I imagine there were a lot of people there. We have big screen at the Monument to watch the games too, it was quite busy, the security were not letting people access Grey Street so I had to walk around.

We went to a few places, a mix from Fitzgeralds, Grey Street No.1, Alvino, The Monkey Bar, The Old George and then tried Filthy McNasty’s for the first time. It’s a late style bar which has been open a few months and took over the space which was previously Blu Bambu. It’s a fairly decent bar which has 2 guys playing guitars singing random pop rock songs live which is something different from the pop/house music which gets played at most late bars. If you’ve ever been to Blu Bambu when it was open you’ll know that all the action was downstairs, they don’t have that open and there’s only the upstairs, but maybe they will in the future.

A good night out all in all 🙂

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Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse In Newcastle Last Night

Monday, 28th September, 2015

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What a cool and amazing sight…

I did not know there was going to be a Super moon, or Super blood moon since it was all red/orange in the early hours of this morning until I stumbled across a few people talking about it. Earlier in the year in Newcastle we had a brilliant view of the Solar Eclipse, and I got some amazing shots, so I decided I had to see this rare event for myself again.

This time round however it was pitch black, and in the middle of the night…Well early hours of the morning, with it all starting at around 01:10 until around 4AM. I checked the timings and decided to go out for just before 3AM, where it was said it would be red and near the peak of the lunar eclipse. I just got out in time to see the end part of the eclipse, and them saw the super blood moon in all it’s glory. I then stayed out for an hour or so snapping pics, and taking it all in. It really is such a good sight.

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The larger looking moon photos are cropped at 100%, and the others are cropped to fit the blog. The photos turned out OK, I think I should get better lenses if I am doing even more of this astronomy photography LOL 😉

For the camera geeks – These were shot on my Canon 600D with a 55-250mm lens; I used various settings, I found F5.6 (the widest the lens goes) at 100 ISO for upwards of 4 seconds was pretty decent.


Summer 2015 Is Over

Tuesday, 1st September, 2015

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Happy 1st of September!

Summer 2015 is over! We may still be in British Summer Time, but the start of September always signifies the end of summer for me. The days are getting shorter, and the nights are slowly getting longer, which means it will be starting to get dark at 5PM soon which I really hate! 🙁

I can’t quite believe we’re 9 months into the year, the summer has somehow gone, and before you know it we’ll have Christmas and New Year, 2016 will be here and I’ll be taking about the summer again! :mrgreen:

A while back I took these shots, probably the most summery ones I have….White jeans, nautical tee, linen jacket et al. Check out more of my Street Style here too.

I am wearing: H&M White Jeans, H&M T-Shirt, Mango MAN Jacket, Ray Ban Aviators, Ugg Shoes

Roll on Summer 2016 😉

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Page And Cooper Casual Watch Collection

Monday, 31st August, 2015

With a focus on quality timepieces and craftsmanship, Page And Cooper are a watch specialist with a difference. Watches are carefully selected in both brand and style, and fulfil key points of criteria including bring well designed, beautifully made, rare, long lasting and importantly offer value for money.

One thing I like about a quality timepiece is exclusivity, I want luxury along with wearing something on my wrist that others will not be wearing. Page And Cooper find quality watches made by small, independent companies which you’ll not find on the high street, utilize traditional watchmakers workmanship.

I have picked out a few of my favourites from their casual collection, which have caught my eye.

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Throwback Thursday – 90’s Fashion – Kappa

Thursday, 27th August, 2015

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Happy Throwback Thursday! 😀

Back in the mid 90’s fashion was all about sportswear, I was a teenager and lived in the stuff. The brand which was one of the most coveted was Kappa. They made football shirts for huge European teams such as Juventus and Barcelona, and general sportswear too.

Everyone was into Kappa, and it was pretty expensive for clothing when we were teens back in the mid 90’s. I remember owning a few pieces, a tracksuit being one, as well as a zipped sweatshirt being fond memories.

I heard that Kappa were making a comeback, and were selling some of their old retro style tracksuits, as well as bringing back the brand for the new generation. I actually got the tracksuit last year, and did a small feature about it on the blog.

Here I am styling it with some other 90’s and retro greats; Converse Chuck Taylor trainers, and the equally iconic Adidas Originals T Shirt. The tracksuit I previously owned as a teen was almost the same, but had the red background track pattern down the sleeves of the jacket and sides of the trousers. Still, this navy and white version was an absolute classic, and brings back a lot of good memories.

90’s style and trends are back, and I love 90’s nostalgia whether that’s fashion or pop culture, and Kappa was a bit of both. It is of course not for everyone, and probably cringe-worthy for those who think they are into high fashion because they’ve once bought something from [insert designer name here], but it brings back memories of a great era that’s what it’s all about 🙂

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